The Forbidden Gods
by itsfalloutgirl
Summary: AU. Second century AD. After the death of the emperor Leopold, Regina takes the control over the Roman Empire. She rules from the shadows, because a woman is not allowed to rule in those days on her own. She needs to find a way to be the only ruler, but everything gets more complicated when she catches the thief Robin Hood.
1. Until The Morning Light

AN: I just had this idea in my head for a while now, so I decided to write it.  
I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please reviwe, it will make my day.  
It is my story, but I don't own anything...

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Chapter One- Until The Morning Light

The big hall was completely dark. Almost every person who would have walked by could be wrong and think it was empty, a rational thought given the late hour of the night. It was not completely true.

Regina walked in circles, her shoes making a unified, relaxing tapping noise on the cold stone floor. On the contrary to her shoes tapping, she wasn't able to remember the last time she was relaxed, and could think clearly. She wasn't able to sleep. She was drowning in thoughts, worried about the plan that hasn't been made yet and the ticking clock. She could almost hear the Tick Tock, Tick Tock and Snow White's laughter. This child took away everything she had. She won't let her take the crown, her crown. She fixed the laurel wreath that lied on her head, and didn't stop walking around the big room, and the annoying ticking of the imaginary clock kept mocking her. Usually, the laurel wreath gave her feelings of strength and power, reminded her status and attribution, and helped her plan her next steps. But not this time. This time it was seen like the wreath was mocking her as well. It was a solid and existing prove to all of the things she wasn't able to do.

She threw the wreath on the floor and kicked it aside. Nothing and no one will take her power away, especially not this stupid girl and the cheesy true love she is seeking.

She sighed, sat down on the big chair and crossed her legs. Her eyes went over the room, and she could almost see some of the important people that sat around the table in one of the many meetings she was part of, Leopold by her side. And they were talking and talking and talking and she had so much to say, so many thoughts to express. But she knew better. So she pulled the corners of her mouth into a fake smile, and kept it shut for hours upon hours.

The first rule the life in the palace had taught her was be pretty and be silent. And as the time passed, she understood she was capable of doing that. Be pretty and be silent while she was forbidden to go out of the palace limits on her own. Be pretty and be silent while Leopold let other women into his bed. Be pretty and be silent while the rage and anger and frustration flooded her. But Leopold's life was over now, surprisingly or not, and the silence that kept her a prisoner like a cage imprisoning a mockingbird was broken at last.

But she was sure about one thing. She won't let this arrogant little girl, who think she deserve everything, take her throne. She won't give up her power, her glory, which she earned after all these years of oppression and humiliation, to the one person who has already took almost everything she had. Not for anything in this world.

Her perfectly shaped fingernails ticked anxiously on the chair's arm. Even if someone noticed her, he would not dare to say a word. They were afraid of her, afraid of what she is able to do to them, and their fear was justified. Fear is quiet an effective tool, the most effective one she was able to find. And she tried a lot of tools in her life.

"How can I get this bastard out of the game?" She asked herself, mumbling. If anybody had seen her he would have thought she was crazy, the Caesar was not okay. She moved back a lock of hair that fell on her face, and started to look after the laurel wreath in the darkness. The heavy shortage of sleep ate her inside, consumed her and her sanity, and made her unrestful. She picked up the wreath she started to turn it in her hands. She understood that this wandering, idly, won't give her an amazing idea right away. She would have to swim in the ocean of uncertainty for one more day. The understanding that the solution that was already suggested to her is probably the only one, that she didn't have another option that will make her and everyone happy started to seep into her. But she won't let this bother her. No, she refused to give up hope, because if she loses her hope that it is possible to maintain the exciting situation, she will be left with nothing. She will stay the same beautiful yet empty shell of Regina she was during the life of Leopold, and she won't let this happen to her ever again. The tiredness took over her, her eyelids became heavy, and even though she knew she won't have much sleep, if she has any at all, she preferred to turn and roll in her bed, in hope she would fall asleep before the dawn, which was close already.

She straightened the laurel wreath on the top of her head again. She looked one more time on the empty grand hall, locked the door behind her inthree knocks, and almost hovered in the corridor toward her bedchamber, one out of many.

* * *

Robin ran and ran and ran. He ran to the place where his legs have been taking him, and he never really thought where he was going. He lost track of time long ago, and he knew that without the high adrenalin level that flooded his blood at that moment, he would collapse long time ago, lying unconscious on the ground. It didn't matter what would happen to him, didn't matter how long did he had to run, he won't let them catch him. If they catch him, it won't be only his end, but the end of all Mary Men; it would be the end of Roland. Only the thought about his boy's smiling face made him continue running toward nowhere.

Roland had already lost his mother. He lost his mother and it was Robin's fault. Robin would not leave his child, the most precious thing in his life, orphan. And even though he knew that other people would have taken care of him if he wasn't there to do so, they will help him grew and be an outstanding young men, he wasn't able to picture Roland growing up without him.

So he ran. He ran through mountains, hills, villages, fields and forests, and he didn't stop. In some place in his heart, he knew that there is going to be someday he would have to face the empress' guard. He knew he did to her far more troubles than she could take and let him go. They won't give up and let him continue with his life, and they won't let go until he was theirs, once and for all. And then only the gods can guess what his doom is going to be.

He didn't know how much longer he will be able to continue. The darkness surrounded him, and he wasn't able to see anything. He felt like his chest was about to blow up to pieces and his body became heavy like a block of lead.  
He stood behind a large tree, leaned on it and tried to catch his breath. They were close. Really close. Too close. Close like they have never been before. But his haunting skills were on his favor. He kept quiet. He was so still you could get so very close to him, until you almost touched him, without even noticing, and then it was already too late.

He didn't know where he was, or how far was he from Roland, from the little army he gathered up through the years, from home.

"All the ways lead to Rome." He murmured to himself, afraid someone is still close enough to feel his presence. Of course he didn't know how long he ran or to where, and the full and complete darkness prevented him from seeing anything, but the scent of the forest, the cold chill that made his skin shiver, they all gave him the feeling that he came back to her, to his Marian, to the place where he has always belonged, finally fine.

He couldn't believe how close he was to the empress all of this years, and she was busy chasing him in the remote corners of the empire, places he have never heard of, never the less visited, while he was there all of this time, right below her nose.

He drifted in his thoughts; he let himself sail in the big ocean of imagination. This was his fatal mistake, the one that will change everything. When he felt the soldiers close to him, it was too late. They were on to him. He tried to escape, but they outnumbered him, and they were many, and they surrounded him, didn't let him escape.

"We finally caught you, you bustard. You did a lot of troubles to us." A voice behind him said. He saw the men that rise above him only generally. It was too vague to notice the little details that characterized him, but he was clearly taller than Robin, which made him a little bit threatening. Robin was dragged by two other big men violently, which made him think the other man was the commander of this company, maybe a part of the Caesar's top secret guard.

"What do you want from me?" He asked, even though he knew they only did what she told them to do, and they had as much knowledge about what was going to happen to him as he had, even though by this time he had some speculations about his future, now that he was caught, and it wasn't by any way a pretty one.

"It is not what we want from you." The threatening man snorted, disgusted. "It is what she wants from you." The two soldiers who grabbed him let him go, and he fell to the ground on his knees and palms, which got scratched and bruised.

"I thought she didn't run the empire. I thought she was only there because she was the wife of the dead Caesar. I didn't know that she was the one to get the calls." A cocky grin was up on his face. He knew he hit him in the right spot when the lips of the men he recognized as the chief tightened. The rule was unsteady at least since Leopold passed away, but they weren't supposed to let people know a woman was running the life of all the people in the empire, that a woman was making the calls. It was unacceptable, forbidden no less.

"She determines nothing. She just asked me to do her a favor, and I didn't see a reason to say no."

"A woman, asking for a favor, from someone in such a high rank as you, and you take the order immediately. If she wasn't the empress, I really don't know what she had to promise to you so you fulfil her will. Are you really that blind you can't see this empire has much bigger troubles than a common thief like me?" He asked. "Or you just don't want to see it?"

The person Robin recognized as the unit's commander, and was the only one who could speak to him, rolled his eyes and turned his back to him.  
"I am sick of what this outlaw has to say. Take him away." Robin, who was still on the ground, felt someone hitting him with a hard object on his head, and the world beneath him tossed, turned and was gone into the darkness.

* * *

Regina walked into the room; last, of course, properly to the person whose status was the greater in the whole empire. And even though most of the people were not aware to this situation, the people in the conference room were her confidants, and they knew exactly who had the last saying. She was sure everyone were able to see the dark circles beneath her eyes, which was a sign of an ongoing lack of sleep, but her looks were the last thing that was on her mind at that very moment. She no longer had to be the fairest of them all to get what she wanted.

"My lady the Caesar, I have to say you have been putting of this issue for far too long. The people had enough. How long can we keep making excuses?" Adrian said. He was a bearded man, one of Leopold's most important counselors, and maybe the most important one among hers.

Regina sat down on her chair, her back straight; her head up high, prideful.

"Since you don't have an heir or heiress from the Caesar, may the gods let him rest in peace." Said another man, dark skinned." I think the solution we had already suggested to you is the most effective one. Marry another men, the higher classed the better, and let him claim the empire. I don't think someone will say no."

"It can't continue like this for much longer." Agreed Mauro, another one of her advisers. "You can't keep controlling from the shadows, and only the gods can know how much terror the fact that a woman, no less, have been ruling over the great empire will seed. Listen to me, you have to marry now, and put an end to this circus.

"Quiet!" Regina yelled, and slammed her hand on the table, her gaze full of anger. If she had magical powers, she probably would have been able to burn all of the room down in an instant.

"Listen to me carefully." She stood up, and started walking around the table to which her most superior and most loyal advisers have sat, even though she knew the latter was limited.

"I trust your advice, and I listen to them carefully, but not this time. In the name of all gods, I have been telling you I don't know how many times and I will say it again, hopefully for the last time. I am not going to marry anyone," She emphasized the last sentence. "just to keep my statues. I will find another way."

"But it didn't seem to bother you to marry Leopold to gain your statues from the first place." Someone murmured, and Regina didn't hear close enough in order to notice who exactly he was.

"That was in the past." She continued to hover around the table like an eagle that was waiting for its prey. "Today, if anyone does as much as say his name, I will make sure he will find himself sharing the same miserable fate as your former emperor."

"Regina." Adrian put his hand on her shoulder in order to calm her down, which made her even angrier.

"It is the empress for you." She moved and his arm was off her shoulder. She used to let him treat her more personally usually, but this time she felt like it was not the right thing to do.

"The empress" he looked down, defeated. "We have been through this a dozens of times in order to find a solution, but I don't think there is another one existing other than the one we have already suggested to you. In order to keep everything you built, everything you earned, you have to make some compromises. I am sorry, but I think you just don't have a choice."

Regina wanted to react to this. She knew deep down that he was right, of course. She tried and ruled out every possible solution thirty times, and the solution that came up at this conversation was the only one which was both doable and efficient. She also wanted to slam a vase or two angrily at the wall, but she stopped that urge when she heard someone knocking at the door.

"Come in." she said, sitting back at her chair, in failed attempt to look like she didn't had a nerve break down at that very moment.

"The empress" Graham walked into the room, wearing full armor, and bowed a little before closing the door of the conference room behind him.

"We are in the middle of an important meeting. Is it urgent or can it wait?" She asked, an arrogant smile, confidential, appeared on her face.

"I guess it can wait." The former hunter blushed. "But I just thought you would want to know we have reliable information about his place of being."

"Whose place of being?" Regina leaned forward curiously and entwined her fingers together. "Be clear!" she demeaned.

"Robin Hood, the thief" He explained.

Regina's heart started pounding fast in her chest. She has been waiting for this moment for so long, to the moment when the little pathetic outlaw, which he, and his party, have been doing too many troubles to her, will be caught.

"Have you already got him?" she asked anxieties.

"Not yet." Graham admitted, his eyes locked on the floor. "But our intelligence focused us on a very small area near a village, even though it is more than likely he ran into the woods by now."

"So why are you still here?" She asked, and her wrists turned white because she was holding her chair's arms too tight.

"Well, I am waiting for your orders."

"My orders are definitely not to waste the time and let him escape!" He still stood there, a sealed expression of lack of understating on his face.

"I want him, dead or alive." When she saw nobody moved an inch, she added "Now!"

Graham bowed and walked out the room.

"This meeting is clearly over." Regina got up from her chair and went toward the big doors as well, not forgetting to murmur "A group of fools." Before she slammed the big doors shut behind her.


	2. Killing The Messanger

AN: I have a couple of things I would like to say:

First of all, thank you very much for all the following, favoriting and reviwing. It made my week.

Second, my uploding schedule is like so: a new chapter of TFG every Thursay, and a new OQ oneshot every Monday. You can find my oneshots at my tumbler, I use the same name like here.

Also, let my now if you want to see my oneshots here on this site. If you do like to see them here, make sure to write if you want me to do a collection of all of my stories or post each oneshot separately

This is my story, but I don't own anythin

If you enjoied, please leave a review, it will make my day

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Chapter Two- Killing The Messenger

Regina sighed and leaned her head against the padded chair back. She sat again in the grand hall, going through another sleepless night, but she wasn't surprised anymore. Sleep was such an essential yet rare item in her life, and it was even more uncommon since she became the empress. She closed her eyes in order to catch a minute or two of priceless rest, but then the door opened and Regina jumped, panicked, and her eyes opened at once.

"I am sorry if I scared you, the Caesar." Adrian walked into the room, closing the door behind him with a soft knock, almost inaudible, and started to walk toward her.

"It is fine." She smoothed her hair with her hand in order to look a little bit more presentable. "How did you know I was here?"

"I know you don't sleep at night. We all do, Regina." She didn't correct him this time, didn't made him treat her formally, but she listened to what he had to say. "The servants told me you like to spend your nights here. That this place helps you… think." He finished his sentence at last and sat in one of the chairs that stood around the table in a perfect circle.

"Them." She said and rolled her eyes in contempt to the mention of the like invisible women, even though she probably would not be able to live without them after all the years she took their presence for granted. "Well, so why are you here?" she asked, rushing him to get to his point. She didn't need nor wanted company in the late night's hours, and with all the respect she had for her adviser, she just wanted him to leave her alone.

"I can send you someone, you know." A wondering expression went on her face. "To help you with your sleeping problem." He made himself clear.

"No thank you. I am fine. Now, get to your point." She kept on pushing, this time a little bit harsher.

"As you wish. My point is we have to figure out what we are going to do with our little outlaw."

"And it couldn't wait until the morning? What was so urgent to do this right now?" She rolled her eyes.

"Given the fact we are both awake, I don't see a reason why we shouldn't do this right now." He replied and smiled a sly grin.

"Why are you awake? Well, it doesn't matter. Anyway, it is kind of obvious. He needs to get into the coliseum." She said decisively and nodded her head.

"I can agree with that. When?"

"The sooner the better. And I want people in the crowed. A lot of them. They need to see the rule is still able to give a good gladiator fight and catch an outlaw or two when it is needed." She didn't forget to smile her infamous vicious smile that typified her. "I say, let him stay here for a couple of days. Let the rumors ran. And then let him fight for his life." She laughed a cold laugh that cut the air open like a thousand sharp knives.

Adrian opened his mouth in order to say something, but before he did as much as make a noise he closed it back shut.

"What?" Regina asked aggressively.

"I will take care of everything you need. Don't worry; I will put our best against him. He would not have a chance."

"Well, this puts an end to our conversation, which I still can't understand why couldn't wait until the morning." The adviser nodded, got up from his chair and walked toward the door.

"And Adrian?"

He turned around. She looked so broken in that moment, like she was hit over by a carriage. Her eyes reflect the tiredness she felt, and he wasn't able not to feel sorry for her, because even though she clearly wasn't pure hearted, he didn't believe anyone deserved this miserable fate.

"Do you think it will help me with my bigger problem?"

"I doubt that." He answered sincerely, and saw the corners of her mouth drop down in disappointment. "It was nice talking to you the empress, sleep well." She was exhausted, so she didn't even have the will to answer the man's remark; she just closed her eyes and tried to forget her issues.

* * *

When Robin got his consciousness back finally fine, he still wasn't able to see anything. The darkness surrounded him, and his heart started beating rapidly. It took him several minutes to remember what had happened to him, and he wasn't sure what he preferred: to stay in the lack of knowledge or to deal with the hard reality that slammed into him. Cold sweat started to go down his face when he realized the ground beneath him was moving. They were riding a carriage. They were probably on their way to the palace. Robin wasn't able to understand why the empress herself bothered to deal with a common thief like him. He was sure somebody will shoot an arrow at his heart and end his life the minute he got caught. But no, the Caesar liked a good show. She won't let him the simple pleasure of dying fast. She will torture him until he would rather die than stay alive under her hands.

His hands and legs were tied and his eyes covered, and he felt a couple of hands dragging him roughly, leading him from the carriage into an unknown place. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts not to fall, and some unpleasant comments from the soldiers that were looking after him, they went down stairs, a lot of stairs, more than Robin was able to count, even though he tried, and then someone pushed him into a cell, and pulled down finally fine the ropes that tied his hands and legs, and the fabric pieces that were wrapped around his mouth and eyes.

The first thing that Robin felt was pain. All of his body was in pain. He didn't know how long he was tied up, but it was certainly long enough to leave a sign on him. He thought he got pretty far from Rome, and if he was in the Caesar castle like he believed he was, the journey in the carriage took almost a full day, the most of it he spend unconscious. But it was probably better than sitting down there and conspire about his future, every speculation worse than the one before it.

Robin blinked; his eyes had difficulty to adapt to the candles light, as fine as it was, after all the darkness he had seen in the last days. A single solider locked his cell and went up the stairs. It seem like he regretted for a minute he didn't say anything, couldn't decide if to give Robin a hint about the destiny the empress distained for him, but then he concluded that the decision to be silent is the best one for him, and he kept going up the stairs, until Robin no longer saw him, but only heard his footsteps on the stone stairs.

And then it was silence. The most horrible and agonizing quiet Robin have ever heard. He wanted to scream. Just to scream and to scream and to scream. But he kept the silence because he didn't want to look weak to the empress or one of her people. The only thing that was worse than being a prisoner of the Evil Caesar is to be taken as weak by her. Even though he knew his fate was doomed, probably in that same day she decided she can't handle the troubles he was doing to her anymore and sent the order to chase after him, he still had hope, as little as it was, and believed he could still change his fate, that nothing was lost. Yet if she sees him as weak, and won't look at him like a threat or someone who was necessary, he won't be able to negotiate and get what he wanted the most- his life.

The silent shocked him. He didn't know how long he was sitting there in the candle light, servants going up and down the stairs and giving him some food and water, only what he needed for his exciting, maybe even less, making such a big effort to keep alive a man that would probably face death anyway in a day or two. He knew nothing was done out of the empress kindness. No, she wanted to kill him publicly, throw a show for all to see.

The quiet also gave him time to think. He thought about the hunger, the loneliness, about everything he left behind. Roland, his Merry Men. The men that trusted him, that were willing to give their life to save his, he was sure of that, that left everything they had behind, no matter how little it was, and for that he was grateful. You really don't know how to appreciate what you have in life until you lose it and you are near death, swinging by the big abyss of hell: one leg here, the other there.

Robin got up from his sitting place on the cold cell's floor and started walking in it, making two steps on one direction before he encountered the wall and had to walk back to the other direction. His nerves loosened. He was always an outdoors kind of man, he liked the nature, and this horrible captivity affected him in the worst way. But the thing that stopped his restless walk was quiet steps that were heard down the stairs. They were so gentle, they didn't belong to any solider nor servant. A little grin showed up his face when he figured out which woman was walking down toward him. Apparently she was kind enough to come and meet the outlaw.

* * *

"The empress" Said one of the old maids after she got into the room. Her white hair was pulled into a clean bun on the top of her head, and she didn't forget to bow before she continued to talk. "Commander Graham is here. He wants to speak to you."

"Let him in." Regina dismissed the old maid and the young one that took care of her hair with a wave of hand, and it stayed down, going over her shoulder like waves of black velvet.

After the servants left the room, Graham entered. He looked tired. Not as tired as Regina, but exhausted enough so even not the sharpest person could see the dark circles that surrounded his eyes.

"I hope you have good news." Regina said and walked closer to him. She wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him, a forced kiss by Graham's side. But he played along, he couldn't resist her. She asked him to do something, and he refused, and this was the price of his disobeying, which she took as worse than failure.

"In matter of fact, I have. We caught the thief. He did a lot of troubles, forced us to chase after him for far more than we planned, but we caught him eventually. We had to faint him to prevent any kind of resistance, but he got his consciousness back… eventually." He took a step back and looked down.

Although he was taller than her, she still threatened him. She had the power, and she has never let him forget that, even in the most intimate situations.

"He is here now?" she asked almost excitedly. She turned around to look in the big mirror that was hanged on the wall of her bed chamber and started to check her appearance carefully.

Graham winced his face disgustedly, and hoped she didn't notice. He wasn't able to understand how this beautiful woman, that could have seen so harmless in first sight, was able to be happy over a vicious game that had an execution of a man in its end, a man that his biggest crime was to search a little justice in the unfair world they lived in.

"He has been here for two days, actually. I only arrived now because I was left behind in order to search for his men, a search that led to nothing. They probably split into two different directions the minute the outlaw understood we were on to him, and they managed to hide or escape.

"Two days? He has been here for two whole days, and no one bothered to say to me that you imprisoned him?" Outrage expression was up on her face, which Graham saw through its reflection in the mirror.

"The empress, you have to understand that people don't know they have to come to you in these situations. They assume you are here because you were Leopold's wife, that is all. And those who do know they have to come to you, well, they are afraid of you. I got here after midnight, so I wouldn't have asked to wake you up unless something urgent had happened, so I preferred to let it wait until the morning."

She didn't fix him and told him that in the last night, as most of the nights that she had spent during her grown life, she didn't sleep, and even if he had bothered her it would not make such a difference. "Their fear is justified." She finally got her eyes off her reflection, walked to the door and slammed it in Graham's face rudely, leaving him closed in her own bed room.

After a second of wondering about Regina's actions, the former huntsman walked out the room and closed the door shut behind him.

"The Caesar, may I ask where are you going?" He started following her, and didn't have a hard time narrowing the gap between them with the help of his big footsteps, yet she continued to walk, even with the solider by her side.

"Well, isn't it obvious? I am going down into the dungeon to have a little chat with our friend the thief."

"Regina, I insist, don't do this. You don't have any interest in this outlaw, and he doesn't know anything about Snow White."

"You insist?" She stopped walking and turned around to him, making sure he see the rage in her eyes. "First of all, it is the empress for you. Second, you don't know about the interest I have or don't have in the outlaw. Another thing is that I understand our relationship may have confused you, but I am still the one to get the decisions, the ones that concern me and also the ones that concern you. I am not an ordinary woman, don't you forget that."

She kept walking until she got to the staircase that led to the dungeon that Robin Hood was finally fine locked up in. "I guess you can show yourself the way back, can't you?"

Graham nodded and bowed, defeated, and Regina smiled triumphantly. "The empress" He said and turned back to the dark hall that led to the palace.

"Graham" she said after he almost disappeared from her sight, in such a voice that could almost sound sweet. "I hope you learned you lesson from our last meeting. There is no need for me to humiliate you in public again, right?" She started to walk down the staircase, her steps so quiet, gentle, and the thoughts running up her head about what, or more correctly who, she is going to see in less than a minute.


	3. Of Strength and Power

AN: I just wanted to say Thank you so much for all of the reviewing, it made my day :)  
Thank you so much for anyone who takes the time to review.

And I also wanted to say that this story takes place in Ancient Rome and not the EF, and Regina is the empress after she kills Leopold.  
I really hope that you will enjoy this!  
I will post chapter four in next Thursday.

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Chapter Three- Of Strength and Power

Robin stamped his foot nervously. It took her way too long to go down the stairs, and he knew she was stretching her staying between the floors intentionally. She wanted to make him nerves, to make him bite his nails, but he won't let her that satisfaction. He just wanted to finish this conversation before it even started, just wished she would tell him what she came for and leave, because he was stuck and had to choice but staying.

The first thought that came to Robin's head when he first saw the empress, going down the stairs in noble elegance, was that she was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Of course he let that thought go as fast as he could, and his thoughts became wicked, angry, but it didn't change the fact that he was attracted to her almost innocent beauty, even though he was well aware to the ugly truth that crawled like a snake under the perfect shall that wrapped her. Her hair slid down her shoulders in perfect raven black waves, and her mouth was a straight dissatisfied line, its color red as blood, the toga that she was warring warped around her legs gracefully.

"The Caesar" He bowed theatrically. "How I got the honor that the ruler of the big empire herself would come to visit me?"

Regina rolled her eyes in disbelief, and Robin wondered when the last time someone acted that way toward her was. "Well, I will admit, you are smarter than I thought you were. It is not a compliment; I thought you are a total fool. Anyway, enough with the games; the fact that you know I am ruling the empire actually makes it easier on me. This way we can give up the lies and evasion and get straight to the point.

"And the point is?" Robin raised an eyebrow and got closer to the bars, he on one side, and she on the other.

"You are becoming a gladiator." Robin's expression turned out from arrogant to gloomy in a second, and it was clear he understood the painful consequences of the bomb she just dropped on him.

"Starting from tomorrow, you are getting into the Coliseum." She continued, the clear storm in his eyes didn't bother her for a second. "And you will fight for your life. If you win, you will get to stay alive until the next battle, and you will probably get a lot of glory as well. But if you lose, well, the battle only ends when one of the competitors is dead, so I don't need to clarify what happens to the losing side. This is going to continue until I decide otherwise."

"And when are you going to decide otherwise?" He ignored the questions that ran in his head, ignored all of the doubts about his future, a future that swung on thin threads, and instead decided to mess with the empress a little bit. It wasn't like he had better things to do anyway.

"When you will be dead." She returned in the same cool tone she got from him.

"It is nice to know we are starting in the right foot. Anyway, why did you have to come here? Couldn't you just send a message with one of the servants?"

"Why? Is my company not enough for you?" Her lips turned down in a fake disappointment.

"No, don't get me wrong. I am more than glad to see a pretty woman when she stands in front of me. And to be honest, I was getting a little bit bored down here all alone. The maids and the soldiers are not big talkers."

"Unlike you." She murmured, but Robin ignored the snide remark and continued like he had never heard it.

"I just thought the great and terrible empress didn't have time to chat with a common thief like me."

"Let's just say I wanted to see for myself if the whole fuss around that "Robin Hood" is justified." She got closer to the bars as well and grabbed them, like she wanted to show she wasn't afraid from him. Yet he didn't step back, but stayed right in his place, so just a couple of iron pieces separated between them.

"And how this Robin Hood looks like to you so far?"

"I am just going to say I have seen better looking men." She drifted away from him, like she wanted to emphasize what she just said.

"Well, this is upsetting." He sighed. "I have already thought you were attracted to my idolatrous beauty."

"Don't flatter yourself to much." She snored in contempt.

"If I don't flatter myself, who will flatter me? You have already made it clear that this is not going to be you…"

"Well… You are right. I guess I am going to go right now after I have told you what I came for. Have a nice life… Or at least what has left from them." She turned to the stairs and started climbing them.

"Regina, wait." Robin didn't understand why he did this, why he asked her to stay. He detested this woman with every bone in his body. This woman who took him from his Merry Men, who ripped him away from Roland, who will get him into a cruel game where he will probably find his death. But the request came out of his mouth even before he understood he wanted to say something.

Regina went down the few stairs she had managed to climb in the little while she had had. "Regina." She rolled her own name on her tongue. "Don't you think it is a little informal?"

"As a man who is about to die tomorrow, formality is a luxury that I can easily give up on." He was sharp. It was the bitter truth, the thing they both knew, and he didn't bother to make it prettier. He was right, of course. The chance he would survive his first battle against a well experienced gladiator and would return to have another conversation with her was weak, insignificant, even, and they both knew it very well.

"I thought you didn't want my company." She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. He didn't know, didn't understand when this whole situation turned out from one he just wanted to end, to another which he didn't cared at all if it continues.

"Oh… I had never said such a thing, and I would have never said this to a woman, any woman. I just can't understand why you would like my company, but now it is clear you do."

"And how exactly did you manage to get this interesting understanding that I want to spend my time with you, if I may ask?"

"Because if you wouldn't like to talk to me, you would simply turn around and go. Manners are not your strongest side, aren't they?"

"Neither they yours, outlaw. Should I remind you who are you talking to?"

"I am well aware to whom is standing in front of me, and I have never said I am a master at good behavior."

"Well, then I guess we agree to be impolite toward each other. I have always said that manners are overrated." He smiled when she said that, and she still frowned, obviously. It wasn't easy to impress the Caesar, a thing which Robin had already understood, but the look in her eyes softened a little bit, and didn't reflect pure hatred anymore.

"You are also more interesting than I thought you would be." She finally admitted. "But it does not say I am giving up just like that. You are going into the arena. You made some crimes that you have to pay for." She answered the question that was never asked, but definitely stood in the air between them.

Robin admitted, just to himself, that he was a little bit disappointed, even though he didn't expect to charm the woman before him so she would give him an amnesty. Of course he didn't say a thing, didn't deliver any piece of emotion to the empress. It was a childish thought, irrational, and he didn't delude himself and thought it could become reality. He only had one option if he wanted to keep his life, and it was winning at all cost.

* * *

Regina's things to Robin Hood were not completely true. The first thought that popped into her head when she saw the thief, his look arrogant, confident, without a trace of fear like many before him, was that he was a different man than any other she has ever seen. Even though he was thin, filthy and bitten, she was still able to see his sharp facial features, his blue eyes and his light colored hair. They have made him more beautiful than she could imagine an outlaw would ever be. She didn't know what her soldiers had done to him while she wasn't aware of his presence. She didn't give them more specific orders than to bring him to her, and she started to be sorry about that. She needed to clarify that he was going to the games, and there was no point in hurting him. Of course she didn't know back then what she wanted to do with him, and now it was too late, so it does not really matter.

"Are you even listening to me?" He pulled her out of the lake of thought she was drawn in.

"No." She answered sincerely.

He rolled his eyes and kept quiet. He sat on the floor and crossed his arms on his chest.

"This is the truth!" She got mad. "We had already agreed we will be impolite toward each other, and I am not the kind who breaks agreements."

"If you are already sincere with me, which is a great honor by the way, be one fully." He grinned. "What were you thinking about?"

"The troubles I have running the empire, nothing that should bother a common thief like you. Moreover, I believe that even if I explain it to you, you won't understand." She couldn't under any circumstances tell him what she was really thinking about. It made her blush, and Regina was not the kind that was embarrassed easily. But even she couldn't ignore the specialty of the man who sat in front of her when he smiled, no matter how hard she tried.

"Oh… The empire, I see…"

"What do you see? I am interested to hear what kind of insights an outlaw has about ruling the empire."

"It is you. You are the woman who will bring destruction to this empire. You are too busy with internal wars, intrigues and plots that you forget about the common people, who need your help the most, who starve in the streets. You are thirsty for power, and you are whiling to do anything in order to get it, and you don't reject any measures."

"I? The woman that will bring destruction upon this empire? Thirsty for power?" She laughed a cold and sharp laugh, which had no amusement in it. "I don't think so. I believe that I am a woman who knew in which bed to get and with whom in order to get what she wanted, in our case strength and power, and knew even better how to keep her heart shut, and considering the current circumstances, I think it worked quite well."

"Then you are a whore?"

"Maybe I will decide to execute you right here and now, and give up the entire gladiator games, as entertaining as they will be. How dare you to speak to me like that?"

"I am going to die anyway. A day earlier, a day later, does it even matter? Besides, honesty is the last thing I got. Anyway, if it is so, how can it be you are not wed yet, if your power is so precious? I guess you were hurt by your last marriage, and you are afraid it will happen to you again."

"I am not the same eighteen years old girl who married Caesar Leopold."

"No you are not." He agreed. "You have the look of a woman now, anyone can agree on that. But I think that the woman inside of you is not willing to forget and forgive about the things that were done to the girl you were. This is the reason why you didn't marry again and claimed the thrown publicly.

"Wow, I am having a heart to heart chat with a thief, who would have believed that?" She hurried to change the subject of the conversation. She didn't want to discuss her past anymore, neither she was willing to find out which other skeletons he would be able to pull out of her closet. "My lack is that he is about to die tomorrow, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't tell anyone about it."

"You know that it is highly impolite to talk about a man who is standing by your side, more like imprisoned by your side, like he is not there, don't you?"

"I gave up manners long ago, like I have said earlier."

"Yeah, I have noticed."

"People have to be polite toward me, a task that you are obviously failing. I, on the other hand, do not owe anyone anything."

"Haven't we already concluded that I am about to die? Therefore, I can't see a reason you won't leave your bad habits behind and be a little bit kind." Robin stated theatrically, and a little smile formed on the ends of Regina's lips, such a smile that lasted only for a moment or two, and then it cleared its space to the usual unsatisfied frown, which was an inseparable part of her.

"A dying man who could make you smile." Robin smiled triumphantly. Regina was disgusted by his pride, by the courage the outlaw had, by the lack of fear from the people who were high above him. Yet she had to agree that making her smile was a really hard task, which the thief was the first to fulfill in a very long time.

"So…"There was an embracing silence in the room. "I guess you are going to fight tomorrow." She climbed the stairs, didn't bother to say goodbye, neither to wish him luck.

"I will fight until the very end for you, milady." She could almost hear the smile in his voice while she kept on climbing, and the dungeon where the legendary thief Robin Hood was kept vanished behind the stair's bent.

* * *

Regina lied on her bed, sighed and closed her eyes, her arms and legs spread in every possible direction. She knew sleep won't come, won't take her, not that easily anyway. But something in her core told her to try, at least. So she gathered herself up and blew out the candles the servants have lightened up earlier.

She lied in the bed again, this time as a person who wishes to sleep, and couldn't prevent her thought from sailing to him, even though she wasn't able to understand why they insisted so bad to turn to the thief. She tried to maintain them, to control them, but they were too slippery, and had their own free will. So she gave up at least, giving his blue eyes to dig tunnels in her heart, inhaling his forest scent that like came into her nose again.

Finally, after what felt to Regina like hours upon hours, but was way less, of turning and tossing, her eyelids became heavy and the blessed sleep carried her away.

It was the first whole night in years which Regina spent sleeping, until one of the maids came to her room with breakfast in her hands, and woke her up from the dream she was heaving.

* * *

Robin stayed awake long after Regina was carried away to sleep. He stared outside, into freedom, which was so close yet so far in the same time, through the little window he had in his cell. Even though he wasn't able to see anything, he could almost feel it. The nature outside mocking him, calling him to come to him with every agonizing breath, even though Robin knew it was the only thing he couldn't have. No, actually, it was the second thing he wasn't able to get. The first was her. But it didn't prevent him from diving into false imaginations about his life with the empress. His thoughts turned out quickly from dark thoughts about the upcoming death to impossible ones about life, life with her.

He let his thoughts surround him; he let them take away the worries about the unknown tomorrow, until sleep has arrived to him in a late night's hour.


	4. Fatal Flaw

__

AN: I just wanted to say thank you for all of the people who reads this story an reviwes. It means the world to me.  
Next chapter will be up in two weeks, because this week I am taking part of the BookTubeAThon and I don't have time to write.  
I am really sorry about that but I hope that you enjoy this chapter anyway!

* * *

_Chapter Four- Fatal Flaw:_

Regina sat in her place, a bored expression on her face. She didn't know why she even bothered to come and see the thief's battle, but she did, and now she was surrounded by the commoners' filth that cheered even before the battle began. She rolled her eyes in disbelief due to the situation she was in, and hoped with all of her heart that this fight will be over already and she could ask one of her maids to fill a bath with hot water for her, and she will be safe and sound between the walls of her bedchamber in the palace.

Her tongue moved upon her lips when she saw the outlaw for the first time, and she was immediately ashamed of her reaction. It didn't matter how handsome he was, she had to keep restraintand keep her self-respect at all cost. She couldn't be attracted to any man, especially not the thief, but the fact that he was bare chested and muscular almost drove her crazy, and made her forget every little bit of rationality she had.

She didn't forget her problems in the two days that passed since she met the thief. The imaginary clock still ticked above her head, and now its sound was clearer, sharper, like it claimed some magical solutions that she couldn't give it, not now and probably not later either.

She couldn't say his moves with the pitchfork and the net had any grace, when she finally saw him when he entered the arena. No, he was heavy and clumsy, and Regina truly believed he had no chance of winning against the confident and well experienced opponent who was in front of him. Robin Hood was usual to his famous bow and arrows. The thief who was capable to hit any target with his bow which never missed was well known in the empire, but in this game crossbows and arrows were completely prohibited. He only had the existing weapons, and the skills the gods gave him when he was first born, Regina didn't know what they were except from arrogance and a big amount to self-confidence, and she wasn't sure who much they will help him in this battle.

"He has to die. He has to die." She murmured, even though she didn't know what she wanted to happen, she didn't know what she wanted from herself anymore. Maybe the outlaw was right after all, she thought while the fight has begun, and both of the gladiators span around themselves, no one attacking yet, they both were waiting the other one will do the first move. Maybe the endless chase of strength and power was the thing that destroyed her. No, it was Snow White, and she will pay for it, she promised. She couldn't let the thief and his words get through her protections, play with her mind. She just pulled her shoulders and tried to focuses on the game; even though she didn't fully understand what her eyes saw.

It was a game for life and death, Regina was able to see it the eyes of both of the contesters: The outlaw and the big body monster that he had to fight against. She knew the gladiator who was against him. Well, she didn't really know him, she didn't even bother to ask for his name, he was no more than a slave and he didn't deserve a place in the memory of the empress. Yet all of her advisers, whose job was to hear everything and to know anything, told her that he was the best.

She was the one to tell them she wanted the outlaw dead in all cost, and now it was too late to regret it. She couldn't regret it, didn't want to regret it, but in some place in her heart she already did.

She played with a lock of her hair nervously "Kill him already. Just kill him already." She said, but she didn't know who she wants to be the killer. No one could hear her. The crowd around her was buzzing, like this game was the most exciting thing they have ever seen. Regina couldn't tell if it was so, because she was never in a gladiator fight until she met the outlaw. She has never bothered to come and see one. The gladiators were inferior, and they didn't worth a split second of her time or a drop of her attention. She didn't know what she was doing there at that moment, but something pulled her to there. She couldn't settle for a dry declaration of the outcomes from one of her massagers like she usually did, but she needed to see the battle for herself.

She focused her eyes on the outlaw and checked out his body moves. He was sharp, quick, and fought way better than she expected. But it wasn't enough. She saw the man that fought against him, and his moves were clean, perfect, and each and every one of them was made in order to kill, a thing she couldn't see in the eyes of the thief. Yet his opponent had one weakness, he underestimated the outlaw. He believed he couldn't kill him, wasn't able to win, and this was his fatal flaw.

Regina turned her head only for a moment, in order to check that her soldiers, whose job was to make sure that she will be back in the palace safe and sound, were still in their place, keeping her safe from any harm, and when she drew her attention back to the arena she couldn't believe to what her eyes saw. The thief locked his opponent under his net, and raised his three teeth trident that he held in his hand threateningly. She could see for a moment hesitation in his moves, and him mumbling something that looked to her like sorry, but the crowd went wild and demanded the unavoidable death, and the adrenalin that like vibrated in the air made him stick his weapon in the other gladiator's neck.

Regina couldn't remember when the last time she saw so much blood was. The only death she has ever seen was Daniel's, her old lover, but she wasn't able to remember the rivers of the red blood that spilled like now. It was everywhere in the arena, covering the body that fluttered and then stopped, the weapons and the armors of Robin Hood and all of his body, and she could swear in the name of the gods that she was able to smell the metal like scent of the blood that reached to her nose up in the Coliseum, and made her want to throw up, but the nausea made her forget about Daniel, and she believed it was a good thing.

The judge held Robin's hand and lifted it up, and the crowd shouted and shouted, and Regina thought it would never be over. She just wanted to leave and never come back. A lot of people were killed in her orders, more than she could count, but she just gave the commands and walked away. She has never seen how they die, and she didn't like what she saw. It was much easier to let someone else do the dirty work for her.

But it ended eventually, and Robin stepped out of the arena. But a moment before he walked out of her sight, he looked on the crowed that still shouted, and then he glared at her, his eyes burning her from the inside, and even after he wasn't there anymore she still felt his gaze burning her skin in detained rage, and she couldn't understand how he recognized her in the ocean of people she was part of. 

* * *

Robin grinned when Regina went down the stairs. She didn't wait like the last time she came to meet him, and her steps sounded to Robin almost excited, eager to meet him. He didn't know what he had done to her, but he had definitely influenced her, yet probably not in the some way she has influenced him. Something inside of him has also changed since their last meeting. He couldn't say he was so excited that he had to struggle in order to breathe, but he didn't feel the same disgust he felt when she went down the same stairs a day earlier.

He couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face when he finally saw her, a plate full of goods in her hand. "What did I do to get all of this?" He asked her, his brows arching and his mouth becoming wet when he saw all of the food she brought. He couldn't remember when was the last time he had such a big amount of food in front of him, so many options, and he was grateful for the opportunity to have a normal meal in this place, and he also had much wanted company as well.

The servants have given him clothes to change to after the battle, and he wasn't full of his and his opponent blood anymore, but he was still injured, and he knew that if she hadn't come to him he would have sunk into thoughts about murder, which would do no good to him nor to the man he killed, and it was impossible to bring back to life.

"I thought you deserve some rest. It looked like you worked hard today in the arena, and you even made it out alive. Impressive, I have to admit."

"The empress herself comes to give me food and not sending a maid? And she even says things that sound like kinds of compliments! It is almost as exciting as my victory today." When he talked he notice she had a sparkling object in her hands, which made noises when she finally made it to the dungeon. "And she also has a key! Is it my lucky day?" He made such an effort to make her laugh, but she still pouted. This woman will be the death of him, literally.

"Haven't we concluded yesterday that talking about someone who is right beside you like he isn't there is highly impolite? Besides, I am not here to free you, sorry to crush your hopes. This food is for both of us."

Robin smiled when he understood that the empress remembered the content of their conversation from the day before, and it wasn't something that passed by her like some kind of a harmless wind blow. "We also decided other things, like to be impolite toward each other. Why do you even want to share your food with me? I think it doesn't honor you." He determined when she got into his cell and then locked the door behind her. "Aren't you afraid to eat with an outlaw? I heard he actually killed someone in the gladiator's arena today." He didn't eat until she sat in front of him and offered him a piece of bread, even though he was hungry and exhausted.

"Well, when you talk about somebody else like he isn't there it is impolite, but if you talk about yourself like a third person you are just insane." She laughed at the joke she just told, and Robin could see that the rare smile the appeared on her face made her look so innocent, without a drop of cruelty in her, and much younger, maybe even younger than she really was, he didn't know. "Let me answer your questions. I am tired of listening to all of the hypocrites who will say anything in order to get close to me. Sometimes it is better to be around someone who will be honest with you, as much as it will hurt. And I have guards right there" She pointed toward two soldiers, who wore full armors. "If you just think to do as much as touch me they will snap your neck before you can scratch me. So I am not afraid, not for myself anyway. I am more worried about you if you will only think of doing something to me."

"You know I won't hurt you, m'ilady."

"I also knew you didn't have a chance in the gladiator's arena today, and yet you proved that I was wrong to underestimate you. Everyone bet against you, the odds weren't in your favor to say at least. Yet I don't know how you had the power to win like that. It was amazing and horrible at the same time. But now, everybody is so dazed off by Robin Hood the big and scary gladiator. Everyone bet on you in your next battle. You really impressed them, but in order to impress me you would have to do a lot more, thief. I still believe you had beginners luck."

"Betting on me, ah?" He lifted an eyebrow pridefully. "And what do I have to do in order to impress you, the Caesar?" He took a bite of the freshly baked bread, and a smile spread across his face.

She put her finger on her lips and gazed in the air like she was really thinking about a list of things he had to do in order to win her heart. The stupid game they played and the exchanging of words entertained him in an unexplainable way, and put color in to his gray day. His heart still ached for the man he had killed in the arena, a man whose crime was probably as small as his, but he told himself the killing was necessary. Every person he defeated made him a little bit closer to going back to his Roland, and each conversation he had with the empress was a small step toward her heart, and maybe his very wanted release, and also talking with her was much more sufferable than he thought it will be.

"Win again. Show everybody that it wasn't beginner's luck; that you were made to be a gladiator. If you do so, I promise to support you." She put a piece of cheese into her mouth.

"And how support from you will help me?" He asked, a curious look in his eyes. They were never so close to one another, she sat on the one end of the cell and he sat in another, and his heart started beating fast from being close to her, and he hopped she felt the same way too.

"You will find out if you win. It will be a shame if everyone who bet on you will lose their money, isn't it?"

"I have a better idea for an award that I can get if I do win."

"Don't cross the line, support is above and beyond what you deserve."

"A kiss" He bit his lower lip.

"Ah!" she groaned. "You are rude. You should get down from the high tree you climbed on as quickly as you can, otherwise you are not going to get a kiss, which you can forget about because it would never happen, and also I wouldn't bother to come to here anymore."

"Well, you can't blame me for trying. Did you place a bet?" He asked, trying to make her say that she truly believed he had a chance to win after his first game.

"I am not allowed to bet, you know, because I represent the law, after all." She put a finger on her lips. "But if I placed a bet, I wouldn't reveal all of my secrets in front of you." She put another piece of cheese in her mouth and kept quiet.

Robin didn't mean to push the empress into talking to him. Two could play this game. They ate silently until both were completely full, and the Caesar got up finally, when the plate was empty, and shook the dust off her clothes. Robin didn't bother to get up. He didn't have a reason to; it wasn't like he had somewhere to go, another place to be. It was only the cell and the arena, it was everything he saw, and probably everything he would see until he dies. But he was more than determined to prove her wrong.

"I have to say I had a good time, m'ilady."

"Don't get use to this, thief." She said when she locked the cell behind her. She started to climb the stairs, almost disappeared when she suddenly turned her head and said "Good luck." Two little words, and then she continued to step up until Robin couldn't see her anymore.

Robin kept sitting there, surrounded by the scent of wild flowers she had, and thought about how bad he wanted to win and prove her he had anything she could ever dream of- except from beginners luck.


	5. Let It Go

AN: Just wanted to thank you again for all of the reviwing, following and the faves.  
I am really sorry there wasn't a chapter last week, and I hope you will like this one just as much.

* * *

_Chapter Five- Let It Go_

Regina massaged her temples with her fingers. She had a long, detailed list, planned months ahead, of things she had to do and complete that day, but as soon as she got out of bed she had been attacked by the worst head ache she had known in years.

She wasn't a person who got sick a lot, and even when she wasn't at her best she pushed herself to the limit and done her tasks the best way she could.

But this time it was different. She couldn't function, she wasn't able to think, and each breath was a straggle, like someone blew her brain up and left in her head only sticky pieces, like tree gum. She folded into a fetus like position and tried to sink into the bed, in thought that if she tried hard enough, the furniture might swallow her and with her the pain.

But before she managed to sink into self-pity completely she heard a knock on the door. She wanted to toss a cynical remark toward the knocker and try to go back to sleep, she kept on thinking it would be a good cure for the soreness, but she wasn't able to do even that.

"Come in." She yelled at the door, but her voice came out more like a hoarse whisper. She tried to sit in her bed, a thing that only brought another pulse of agonizing pain to her head.

"The empress" The servant who knocked on her door bowed and then closed it behind her. Regina couldn't remember her name, even though she said it to her several times, yet she was Regina's favorite maid. She had light hair and eyes, was very polite and it was like she knew what Regina wanted before she even opened her mouth to ask for it. "Commander Graham is here. He asks to talk to you."

She tried to focuses her eyes on the small body of the servant, a task that was hard to fulfil, and they moved madly across the room. She closed them for a moment, took a deep breath and got out of bed, her head still torturing her, and inflicted pain on the rest of her body.

"Yes… Sure, I will meet him in the conference room in a couple of minutes." Regina hoped, for Graham's sake, that he had something important or urgent to tell her. She wasn't ready to waist her time on marginal issues or the needs of others in any day, especially not in that day.

The maid helped Regina change her night gown to a clean toga and braided her hair to a neat braid that surrounded her head like a crown. I was Regina's favorite hairdo, because it made her feel like she was wearing her laurel wreath, even when it was safe in its place in a box made of velvet.

But it wasn't like that this time. This time her hair hampered on her, and made her head ache crawl deeper. Every logical part in her body screamed at her that there was not a chance her hair weigh her down, but the pain grew bigger in every passing moment.

Maybe it was the meaning of the crown. The crown gave her great power, and with great power comes great responsibility. Sometimes she liked to throw all of the responsibility she carried on her shoulders to the depth of the underworld, and just be the kind of person who could spend a day in her bed if she wanted to.

She could do no such thing.

She let the servant go with a nod of her head, and walked through long corridors to the meeting room, where Graham already waited for her, just like the maid told her before.

She closed the door with a soft knock in order not to wake her head ache again, which got better only by a bit and felt like a constant buzz in the back of her mind at that moment, and sat down on the golden throne.

In the room stood two chairs that were similar, and if you didn't check them closely, you could easily think them identical, except for their height, of course. They both were made of gold and padded with an expensive red fabric. Yet one of them had softer lines, feminine, it was made with the empress in mind, siting by her husband. The other was taller, forceful and threatening, obviously the Caesar's throne.

Regina wasn't the pretty jewel on Leopold's arm anymore. She sat in the emperor chair, a throne she believed belonged to her by law, no matter what anyone else thought.

"I hope you have something important to tell me." She said and crossed her legs. She never had neither the time nor the will to play around. "I didn't come her for you to waste my time."

"Yes." He put his hands on the table and leaned forward. "I think you are wrong in the way you treat the outlaw."

"Excuse me?" She grasped at the decorated arm rest forcefully.

"I think you should have killed him while you had the chance."

"He thinks! How wonderful!" Regina got up from the chair and started walking around the room, her shoes making light tapping noise on the floor, which didn't help easing the pain that still bugged her. She tried to push it away, make it disappear, but nothing helped. The pain and the anger made her frustrated and uptight more than usual, and she had to put the solider in his place. "I am not paying you in order to think, Graham. There are people who thinking is their job. I am paying you to command on part of my army. Every other activity we engage in together is based on my decision, and you have no right to interfere with the empire matters."

"You advisers tend to agree with me."

She was shocked by the fact that he went to talk with her advisers, the people who supposed to be her confidents, in whom she could trust and to their advice she could listen, and she was more dazed by the fact they agreed with him.

"Who gave you the right to go and talk to my advisers? You think that you are some kind of great politician, that you are able to get better decisions than I do. Well, let me make it clear- you can't." She grabbed his face with power in her hand, and squeezed as hard as she could. It wasn't enough to inflict pain or cause any major damage, but it was enough to help her make her point clear. "If I want the thief to be a gladiator, so be it. No one can tell me what to do anymore, especially not you. You are no one and nothing, and you are too kind to play this game. You didn't hurt Snow White when I send you to do so, and I am sure you wouldn't do it now if I send you again all the same." She let go of her grasp on him.

"He infiltrated under your skin, crawled like a sneak, and you didn't even notice." He rubbed the stubbles on his face with the back of his and. Her nails pushed deep into his skin and left red marks where they sank.

Regina tried to think about what he had said to her. She struggled in order to do so, because every time she tried to sort her thoughts to form an idea, the pain pounded and pounded, and prevented her from wanting anything other than being buried deep inside the ground, and not have to think about any of this. How could she be so deep in this mud?

Graham was right, at least partly. It has been two weeks since she first spoke to the thief, two weeks and two more successful games, where he killed his opponents in different astounding combat methods, and a few more conversations between them, which can be concluded as mutual slanders, and she didn't hate him as much as she did before. It was clear that he is not going anywhere; it was like he was born and made to be a gladiator, like he could slaughter any man who will ever stand against him.

"Out" She hissed. Her voice was higher than a whisper only by a bit, but Graham heard the order, the single word, very well. "I don't want to see you anymore, not now or ever. If you want to talk to me, make an appointment. Thank you and have a nice life."

He hurried to follow her orders, and the second he walked past the heavy brown door she ran toward it and slammed it forcefully, and it was like the whole castle was shaking under her.

She sat on the floor, in a way which was not lady like in all means, and was pushing to madness any person who would have seen her at that moment, her legs close to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, her head leaned on them. She took a deep breath, her body still on fire, burning from anger and pain.

She closed her eyes and devoted herself to the pain, preventing herself from feeling anything but it.

If you can't beat something, join it.

* * *

Roland insisted on coming. At first John refused, and told the little boy to stay in camp with the men who didn't go on the mission, and their only task was to take care of him. In Robin's absence he was the one to lead the Marry Men, but it was only temporary, until the real leader comes back. He was sure, more certain than he was in anything else in the world, that he will get back.

But the little boy refused to stay. No matter what they told him or what they promised, he got dressed silently and stood for the task among the other man who got out to it. John tried to fight, say that his father would want him to stay in camp, stay alive. John knew that Roland was the most precious thing Robin had, and when he was taken away he swore he would protect the little boy with his life if needed, and so he will do.

But Roland was as stubborn as his father, even in the age of five years old. The apple didn't fall very far from the tree in that case. This was how John found himself, Roland and a few other Marry Men on a mission to rescue their leader.

They walked to the empress palace, where John believed Robin was locked, and the rest tend to agree with him. Robin and his Marry Men were infamous among the Roman people, mostly among its leadership. They were the most wanted criminals in the empire, after Snow White, of course.

Robin shared his thoughts with his men about the empire. He was smart and humble. The rest of the Marry Men looked up to him, and this time he wasn't wrong either.

They sat in front of the fire one night and he told them about the conclusions he had. He went through every little detail carefully, explaining how he picked up piece after piece of information, until he managed to see the whole picture. John wasn't able to remember every word of Robin brightly, but the base was clear and well-remembered.

Robin suspected the empress was the one who killed the Caser, one way or another, but of course he didn't have any way to prove it or solid enough information to base his speculation on. Either way, the emperor Leopold was dead and gone. Robin told them about the cover story of the empress, about the so called succession struggle that had been going on for the throne, but he said that everything is and was a show. Leopold's wife took the reins to her hands and now she was ruling the empire.

Of course no one believed him at first. They called him crazy. Well, not actually called him that way in his face, but they defiantly thought about it. A woman, by herself, at the head of the empire? That will be a disaster! It was unacceptable. But as the night went on and more details of the story, maybe even the tale, it depends on who you ask, were revealed, everything became clear before them, and now it sounded almost reasonable.

John was able to see the guide lines of the palace of the "Evil Caesar", that is how Robin has called her, and the name stack, and all of Rome spreading beneath it in all of its glory.

They had a plan. Although Roland's presence made it harder to implementation, it was still possible. He was very obedient, kept quiet and didn't complain even once during their whole trip. His father taught him well, that was for sure. Marry Men came in all sizes, and Roland was prove for that. One day he will succeed his father, and he will be as good as a leader, maybe even better. It was a shame though that his mother won't be there to watch, to see him go by her and his father's footsteps, becoming a lad and then a man who can use as a model to anyone watching.

John heard sounds of riding horses, carriage and running man and froze. It took him a few moments to stop the flood of fear in his veins, which consumed everything but itself, but he managed to pull himself together quickly and found a few trees where everyone could hide.

Fortunately, the evening was dark, and everyone managed to hide when they heard the sounds of the carriage getting closer. Loud knocks of wheels on the road almost prevented him from hearing what the people who sat inside the carriage had said, but he managed to catch a word here and there after all.

"I can't understand this…" A voice that belonged to a woman was heard, but he wasn't able to listen to the rest of her sayings.

"The thief… gladiator now. His death does not depend on you, unless…" They could only talk about one thing, one man. Robin Hood. The other voice was deep and manly.

"Yet, there is nothing else…" The beginning of the sentence sounded like a question, even though John couldn't be sure because he wasn't able to hear the rest of it.

"You got too close to him. There is nothing we can do. Everything is on the gods will from now on." The man answered. It was the only sentence in the conversation he heard completely. The noise of the hooves renewed, and for a couple of long moments there was quiet in the woods, awful and wonderful at the same time.

Though the carriage left, no one dared to do as much as breath, and they didn't move from their place for several long minutes. John could only thank the gods about Roland's good behavior. They little boy shivered, he was probably scared to his bone, but he stayed silent.

They sought after them too, they were wanted as well, and it wasn't to any one's favor if they had been caught. They were close. Really close. Dangerously close. Robin would have been furious if he had known that they risked their own lives in order to save his, they risked his son's life. But for them it was unavoidable. They didn't even need to discuss it. It was as clear as the sun they would do anything to save Robin; they would walk for him through thick and thin.

This time they didn't have to talk either. They all knew who the people in the carriage talked about, and John had a strong feeling the feminine voice belong to no other than the empress herself. It couldn't belong to anyone except her. Robin was a gladiator now. His life and death were in his hands and his weapon. The unspoken words in the air told them they had nothing to do in order to save him.

When they started walking back to the Merry Man camp, which wasn't very far away, without any achievements in their hands, not even a small one, John had the chance to think about the truncated conversation they have heard. He especially wondered about the so called relationship of Robin and the Caesar, no matter of which kind it was. Not in this world and probably not in the next as well, could John see Robin gets close to the empress. He hated her and every single thing she represented, and he made sure to mention it from time to time.

When John started seeing signs of tiredness in Roland's face, he picked him up, cradled him up between his arms and let the little boy sleep. He was as light as a feather to a man like him, who was used to picking up heavy loads in the forest.

"Only the gods know where your father put himself. May they keep him safe as well." He stroked the boy's thick black hair and let him continue sleeping, as much as he could.


	6. The Bitter Truth

Chapter Six- The Bitter Truth:

"Don't say a thing." Regina told when her eyes met Robin's blue orbs once she went down the stairs, only enough to see him, almost running down. A confused expression went on his face. She opened the bolt with a skilled and smooth move, and locked it again the moment she was inside the cell. After she sat as comfortably as possible on the floor, Regina opened her mouth but then closed it again, like she wanted to say something yet changed her mind in the last minute.

She could see Robin straggling not to say a thing, not to throw a sarcastic remark toward her. But she managed to know him a little in the past four weeks, and she knew he will do what she has asked for.

"It is fine." He said when he saw her starring in the long ugly cut that went down his face, from ear to check, which he got in his last battle. Regina could only hope that it won't leave a hideous scar on his face. "I like to look at that as a battle sign, some kind of victory medal." He smiled.

She got up off her place and approached to him quietly, without saying a word, and sat on her knees in front of him. She was close, so close, and the air he breathed and the one she exhaled were the same. She dragged her thumb down the wound, agonizingly slow.

"Regina." He moved her hand off his face, and it fell loose beside her body. He couldn't stand her touch.

"I thought it didn't hurt." She bit her lower lip, but still didn't back away. She was too close to him, and he believed that if she stay so close it was likely to assume he will go mad.

"It is your touch." He explained. She did hurt him, but not in the way she understood his words. It was a mental pain way more than it was a physical one.

Since Robin became a gladiator, since he got into that arena and fought against his enemies until the very end, he got a lot of indecent, detailed offers from different women, all rich, some married whose husbands were out of town in some kind of business, some young and beautiful whose family had so much money they didn't care about their self-respect. They were willing to pay a lot, a fortune really, in order to spend one night with Robin. They offered him so much money, an amount that could feed families for months, but he refused, time after time. He wouldn't do such a thing for all of the money in the empire. Even a thief had moral standards.

There was in his mind another woman, young and beautiful, a widow, one and unreachable. He didn't know how she got there, but she was there, and when he wasn't thinking about home, about Roland or about his men, his thought always wondered to her.

He couldn't understand why, but there were things that were bigger than man, things who only the gods could explain, and it was one of them.

Regina didn't say she was sorry. She just got up and returned to her place, increasing the distance between her and Robin, to Robin's relief but also his sorrow.

"We know each other for quite a long enough." Her voice was steady and sure, but he could see her looking down to the ground, her fingers sketching invisible paintings on the dusty cell's floor. He wondered in his heart if she could be ashamed, but he rejected the thought once it appeared. "And I know nothing about you."

"There is nothing to know about me." He shrugged his shoulders, though she couldn't see the tribute, her head still buried deep in the ground. "I am a man who is about to die in a day, or a week, or a year. Don't bother yourself with irrelevant details on a life of an outlaw like me."

"This is exactly why I didn't want you to speak. I knew you wouldn't agree to say anything. At least I have tried." She got up and shook off the dirt that didn't managed to build up on her toga, and turned to get out.

"Wait" He hissed. She always hurried to someplace, and he always asked her to wait, begging for her to dedicate him a couple more precious seconds of her attention. He didn't know way, maybe because she was the only company he had for the past month. He thought that this was the amount of time that passed, but he didn't have any way to be sure. "What do you want to know?"

She smiled triumphantly and slid her back down the wall, until she was able to feel all of her weight against the floor. "I want to know who you are."

"I am no more than a common thief, this is who I am. You defined it well enough yourself."

"Oh come on." She snorted in a terribly unfeminine way, so different from the image Robin had of her. People will usually surprise you after you had your opinion on them, for better or for worse. "This is what other people think of you. I have heard all of the stories about the great and terrible Robin Hood. Now it is your turn to tell me the story like you have experienced it."

Regina could see him shift uncomfortably in his place. She didn't know why she felt the urge to know more about him, to listen to what he had said. She had only felt like that around someone once, but the minute the thought of Daniel popped up in her head she hurried to conceal it. "Daniel isn't here anymore. He won't come back. He is not this man, under no circumstances." She thought.

"I have one condition." Robin could see her straggle now. She was the empress, no one set her terms, and everyone did what she said. He knew his place didn't enabled him to put up a list of demands, he was on the bottom, but he had nothing to lose, and he was sure, maybe even too sure, of the growing affection of the empress to him.

"Fine" She agreed before she heard what he had to say.

"I am telling you everything, and you tell me what brought you here, the things that made you who you are." Her heart started beating rapidly in her chest. She did so many things that she knew he couldn't understand nor forgive, not ever. He always sought after justice, one Regina knew didn't exist.

She tried to think about the things she was going to say, like a list to chores she handed to one of her maids, when she noticed he started talking. She wanted to listen to what he had to say, she was the one who asked him to tell those things in the first place, though she started to be sorry about that. She took a deep breath, and tried to relax her heart, which still pounded at a pace she didn't think was normal.

Robin hesitated, didn't know from where to begin or how. He made a decision to start from the most important thing. "I have a son. His name is Roland." He said and didn't continue.

"So… Are you married?" She asked, her eyes still stuck at the floor. He waited for her to lift her gaze to meet his, and only then he nodded his head shortly for denial, an almost undetectable move.

"After my wife got pregnant she fell ill. It was the hardest time of my life." He was honest, so decent, and he didn't even understand why. The words always flew like water when she was around. "The joy of bringing new life into the world turned into the sadness of her disease. No one understood what she caught, didn't know how to help her. As the pregnancy progressed she became sicker. She made it to labor, but didn't survive it." He couldn't tell her more, didn't want to speak any longer. Every memory that would come up to his mind out of his Marian, Roland or the Marry Men will hurt more than death in the gladiator arena, he was sure of that.

"I am sorry." She murmured, and it was true, he just couldn't understand why.

"I would have walked through hell to be with my Marian again. But eventually, after long time, I admitted to myself she was gone, and I let her go. I haven't regretted for a minute, and I never will, she gave me Roland. He is the most precious thing I have, and I can only be grateful that he was in my life. I guess it depends on the gods' will. They give life but they also take them, and this time it was life for life. I can only be sorry it had to be that way, but I guess no one has a chance to prevent disasters in advance or to change those that have already happened. "

"I guess not." She said, and regretted the moment she asked him to tell her about his life.

* * *

"I was eighteen when it happened. My mom claimed I was an old bachelorette, but I was only a girl." Regina said. She didn't know exactly which parts of the story to tell and which to leave out, but she made a decision to figure it out while she was talking.

After Robin finished speaking an awkward silence fell between them. No one knew what to say. She didn't want to say she was sorry again, because sympathy wasn't enough, and he didn't want to push her into telling anything she will regret later.

So she checked him out. I has been four weeks, almost a month, since they first met. She couldn't say he changed beyond recognition, but she could see the little details that showed up on him with the time. His self-confidence, which intensified with every victory, the worry lines around his eyes. His muscles grow bigger, if it was even possible. He was massive in the day she met him, and in that day he looked even bigger, almost a mountain- man compared to her small appearance.

Robin started at her concentrated, absorbing to him every single word she said. "I was a naïve girl, foolish even. I dared to believe in love. I found it in a stable boy, who served my family, and for a brief moment we were happy. It was the only time in my life when I remember I was truly glad."

She fought back the tears that threatened to break through her eyes. She never told this story, and even years later the memories still seemed fresh and tangible in her mind, like it all happened just yesterday. "My mother, though, never seemed to be happy for me. She always thought I could have bigger achievements, I was able to strive higher, and it didn't matter what I asked for myself or how I feel. I knew she won't agree to my relationship with Daniel, so I kept it as a secret. Until one day, Snow White, Leopold's daughter…"

"I know who she is." Robin interrupted her, just because he felt like he had to replay, to refer to what she had said, so she knows he was there, still listening to her, and didn't fly to another place in the realm of imagination.

"Anyway, one day she lost control over her horse, just when I was around. Of course I was naïve and ran to aid her, to save her life. Since that day I swear the momentary decision that changed my life forever. Her father came to ask for my hand the next day, and my mother agreed in my name. It was all she wanted for me, all she hoped would happen for me. Me, her daughter, being the Caesar's wife? It was an opportunity she just couldn't miss. She never asked me what I thought, what I wanted to do. She just gave me away to him, with a blink of her eye, like I was some kind of an object.

"Daniel and I planned to run away. We hoped to marry secretly, to love each other until our very last day. I was willing to give up the comfortable life I had, I was ready to make do with little, only in him and the family we planned to build. I was so innocent; I didn't understand these kinds of plans never work. No one of the gods fulfilled my wishes. The price of my childishness was his life. Snow saw us together in the stables, and told my mother, who murdered Daniel without thinking twice. She poisoned his food." She couldn't control the tears anymore, and they broke out, one after another, in a thin flow.

Robin had an urge to wipe Regina's tears with his thumb, but he didn't do that. Instead he moved his finger on the slash on his face, which now carried the memory of her soft touch. He knew he couldn't do anything to comfort her, nor by touch neither by words. He couldn't do a thing that will bring her lover back to life.

She smiled and whipped away the tears eventually, but only after a couple of minutes when they streamed on her face." I married the emperor Leopold a short while after, and like it could have been expected, I was miserable. It took me so much time to understand that nothing will bring Daniel back to life, that it was even beyond the god's power, who weren't with me even when he was alive. But the sorrow ended at some point, it was pushed away into a dark corner of my heart, one that I don't reach for anymore. And it was replaced by… nothing, some kind of strange emptiness, which was way more bearable than the pain."

"Every feeling is more bearable than pain, even feeling nothing at all." He agreed.

"Leopold died, and I took the empire and swore to take revenge on Snow White." It was the only part of her story where she left details out. He couldn't know that she was the one to murder Leopold, exactly like her mother killed Daniel. He won't be able to look her in the eyes if he knew she was the one to murder, in cold blood some may say, the Caser who was so loved by everyone. She didn't know he already knew, or at least guessed a long time ago. "I think this is my story, if that was what you wanted to know." She concluded her things. She couldn't look again at those blue eyes after she cried, wasn't able to see her red eyed and massy haired reflection in them. It was too humiliating, it was too much. Everything that happened since she met him was in some kind of too much.

"I am sorry." He said. The same empty, meaning less words that didn't comfort him at all, like he believed they will be enough to ease a little of the grief, which was woven so deep in her life story.

"Don't be" She tried to smile at him and picked her head off the ground finally. But Robin was able to see in her eyes the things her smile tried to hide. He could see the bitter truth behind the walls she built around her heart all of this years.

"I will do whatever you say. After all, I am no more than a game tool in your hands." He smiled the same sour smile she gave him. The air was heavy, cloudy, filled with stories about death that was lonely, silent baggage on their both shoulders through all of those years.

"Here you are wrong. We are all pawn on the gods' table, whether you are a Caesar or a thief. Our story proves it. Who knows, maybe the gods have written a shared story for us to tell, directed the paths of our life so we meet. Maybe the truth about us is written in the stars."

"And maybe you are the empress, and I did some things I should have been punished for." He thought, yet didn't say a word, but looked at her while she watched outside the little porthole in his cell, far to the stars, and read the stories of their lives in the sky, until one of the servants came, quite embraced to interrupt the situation, which could have seem almost intimate from afar, and told Regina she was needed urgently in the meeting room, even in that late night's hour.


End file.
